Chromosomes and the Mitotic Cell Cycle Phase in Onion Roots

Abstract

Shalini Gupta and Anuj Kumar

Onions (Allium cepa) are commonly employed in vitro to evaluate the effects of chemical agents. Onion chromosomes have long been prepared using the acetic orcein staining technique. However, aceto-orcein stain is corrosive and deadly since it contains oxidizing agents like organic peroxides, toxic compounds like cyanides, acid corrosives, and radioactive materials. This study examined the mitotic activity in the roots of onion plants to ascertain the impact of the aceto orcein dye's soaking period on actively dividing root cells. Using the aceto-orcein squash procedure, a number of root tips from each bulb were collected, soaked for 1, 3, and 24 hours in aceto-orcein stain, and then processed further for cytological analyses. The purpose of the research was to examine the impact of chromosomal aberration and mitotic index on onion roots. It will reveal how many cells are actually going through mitosis. The tip of onion root cells was observed going through mitosis while actively undergoing mitotic division using the usual methods. There are various phases involved in mitotic divisions, including prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase, and interphase. At each soaking time, the experiment was run six times. The outcome shown that different soaking time durations had a substantial impact on the decline in mitotic index value.

PDF